Netball is a non-contact team sportsimilar to, and derived from, basketball. Over 20 million people play netball in more than 70 countries.
The objective of a game of netball is for players to pass the ball to a teammate within the opposition's goal circle and score goals. The team with the most goals at the end of a game is the winner.
Netball was first played in England in 1895 at Madame Osterburg's College and soon spread throughout Australia, the then-British colonies of Jamaica and Antigua, and indeed most British Commonwealth territories. It did not yet have hard-and-fast rules. So loose were the regulations, in fact, that some games were played by nine players in each team, while some were played with only five players in each. The nets used were also ineffective?they were not open at both ends, so after each goal was scored, the umpire had to retrieve the ball from the top of the post. Netball has been played at the Commonwealth Games since 1998 after becoming a recognised Olympic sport in 1995.
